Sources say New Line beat out a bevy of suitors that included Relativity and Lionsgate for the rights to distribute the film, which is in the vein of I Know What You Did Last Summer but with a found-footage element.

The project appeared on Management 360's radar when first-time directors Chris Lofing and Travis Cluff posted rough footage from Superstition on YouTube, where manager Dean Schnider stumbled upon it. Impressed with the story and execution, Film 360 took the project to microbudget maestro Jason Blum as something they could team up on to finance. The Fresno-based directors then shot the film on a microbudget with an unknown cast.

New Line's Dave Neustadter screened the finished film in early May and brought it to the attention of Carolyn Blackwood, executive vp strategy and operations at New Line.

"It's a genre we have a great affinity for, and our team is particularly skilled at sizing up what will work with a youth-oriented audience," Blackwood tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Superstition was special because it gives us the opportunity to work with these young filmmakers who could be the next James Wan and to be in business with Jason."

The acquisition is a surprise move for New Line, which hasn't acquired a film since the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, when its Picturehouse specialty label picked up the Marion Cotillard-starrer La Vie en Rose. But New Line is hot in the horror space — having enormous success last summer with Wan's The Conjuring, which became one of the most profitable films of 2013 — and felt that Superstition was the right fit.

New Line is planning a 2016 release for Superstition.

"We always hoped that our work would be seen by others, but this is beyond our wildest dreams," Lofing said.